Diversity Resources

The State Bar of Texas provides information to help lawyers and law firms embrace a fully diverse profession.

Business Case for Diversity
How the best CEO's have come to understand that strong programs which foster diversity help their bottom line:

• Call To Action
• Diversity in Dollars and $ense: CEO's Speak Out on the Business Case for the 21st Century, Dr. Arin Reeves, (Diversity and the Bar, Nov. 2002).
• Association of Corporate Counsel: Diversity
• Minority Corporate Counsel Association
• Diversity Scorecard 2007, Minority Law Journal.
• Traffic on the Off-Ramp, by Seth Stern (Harvard Law Bulletin, Fall 2006)
• The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace, Alicia Kenyon (weLEAD Online Magazine, July 2005)
• Diversity, the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl discusses why diversity is important.

Self Assessment Tools
Where does your firm rate in diversity initiatives and results?

• A Diversity Self Assessment Tool for Law Firms, Audra Bohannon, Maureen Giovannini, Patricia Fitzgerald, and Nicole Robitaille with introduction by Veta T. Richardson (Diversity and the Bar, Sept/October 2003).
• Walking the Talk: Creating a Law Firm Culture Where Women Succeed, , Sharon Jones, Jane DiRenzo Pigott (ABAStore, American Bar Assocation).

Model Policies
What procedures are the best practices in setting diversity-friendly work policies?

• Alternative Work Schedules, (Employment Law Information Network).
• Maternity Leave Policies,Guy Guinan, (Personnel Today).
• Model Policies on Sexual Harassment and Alternative Work Arrangements (Indiana State Bar Association).
• Maternity and Paternity Leave: Working Parents Need Paid Time-Off, Dr. Sheila Kamerman and Dr. Shirley Gatenio.
• Maternity and Paternity Leave: Max Your Maternity Leave, Pat Katepoo of WorkOptions.com.
• Pipline Activities
  • Pipeline Project, State Bar of Texas
  • Pipeline Diversity Directory, American Bar Association (ABA)
    
    
• Mentoring programs
  • The Lawyers’ Guide To Mentoring, (Ida O. Abbott, New York Women's Bar Association, Ida Abbott Consulting).
  • Mentoring Program Aims to Recruit and Retain Minority Lawyers, (Erin Madigan, The Business Journal of Milwaukee).
  • Mentoring Programs for Minority Attorneys: A Word to the Wise, Ida O. Abbott, Minority Corporate Counsel Association)
  • A Guide To Cross Gender and Cross Race Mentoring (Minority Corporate Counsel Association).
    
    
• Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession (Houston Bar Association)

Resources for Reentry Into the Profession
If you are returning to the profession after being on inactive status, here are the rules and tools for getting back up to speed on your MCLE requirements and resuming active status with the State Bar.

• MCLE Requirements
• Links to Online Classroom

Links
This is your portal for diversity statistics, reports, articles, blogs, websites and the many diversity initiatives at the State Bar of Texas and other entities.

• Statistics
  • Annual Report on Status of Women and Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the State Bar of Texas (2005-2006), Department of Research & Analysis, State Bar of Texas, May 16, 2006.
    
    
• Reports
  • Report of the State Bar Task Force on Hiring, Retention and Promotion of Minority and Women Attorneys in Large and Medium Size Law Firms and Coporations, State Bar of Texas, 2007.
  • ABA Resource Guide: Programs to Advance Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession, July 2000.
    
    
• Journals, Magazines, Articles
  
  • Michigan University Journal of Race and Law
  • Minority Law Journal
  • Race, Racism and The Law
  • American Bar Association (ABA)
    • Minority Publications
      
      
  • TexasBarCLE Publications, State Bar of Texas.
  
  
  
• Blogs
  
  
• Websites
  • Diversity and Minority Links, American Bar Association (ABA).
    
    
• SBOT Entities With Minority Initiatives
  
  • Texas Minority Counsel Program (TMCP)
  • Texas Minority Attorney Program (TMAP)
  • Diversity Forum
  • Minority Leadership Summit
  • Diversity Summit
  • Pipeline Program
  • Committee and Speaker Access Programs
  • Racial Diversity in the Profession Committee
  • Women in the Profession Committee
  • Minority Sections
    • African American Lawyers Section
    • American Indian Law Section
    • Asian Pacific Interest Section
    • Hispanic Issues Section
    • Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification Issues Section
      
    • Women and the Law
      
      
  • Texas Spectrum Newsletter
  • Ten Minute Mentor Program
  • Directory of Minority and Bar Associations
    
    

• Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the Profession
• Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice
• Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession Commission on Women in the Profession
• Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law